Augustine the Reader - Meditation, Self-Knowledge, and the Ethics of Interpretation

Augustine of Hippo, a central figure in the history of Western thought, is also the author of a theory of reading that has had a profound influence on Western letters from the ages of Petrarch, Montaigne, Luther, and Rousseau to those of Freud and our own time. Brian Stock provides the first full account of this theory within the evolution of Augustines early dialogues, his

List of contents

Introduction I CONFESSIONS 1-9 Learning to Read Words Reading and Writing Self-Improvement Intellectual Horizons Manichaeism Ambrose Neoplatonism Reading and Conversion Alypius Simplicianus Ponticianus Augustine From Cassiciacum to Ostia Cassiciacum Ostia II THE ETHICS OF INTERPRETATION Beginnings The Letters The Dialogues Speaking and Reading On Dialectic The Teacher Defining the Reader Toward Theory Tradition and Beliefs The "Uninstructed" Christian Doctrine Memory, Self-Reform, and Time Remembering Conduct Time The Self A Language of Thought The Reader and the Cogito The Road toward Wisdom Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index

About the author

Brian Stock is Professor of History and Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto.

Summary

Augustine of Hippo, a central figure in the history of Western thought, is also the author of a theory of reading that has had a profound influence on Western letters from the ages of Petrarch, Montaigne, Luther, and Rousseau to Freud and our own time. Stock provides the first full account of this theory within the evolution of Augustine’s work.

Product details

• Authors: Brian Stock, Brian Comp Stock, Stock Brian
• Publisher: University Presses
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 12.01.1998
• EAN: 9780674052772
• ISBN: 978-0-674-05277-2
• Dimensions: 162 mm x 235 mm x 29 mm
• Weight: 680 g
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; History, Biography: general, LITERARY CRITICISM / Semiotics & Theory, LITERARY CRITICISM / Ancient & Classical, LITERARY CRITICISM / Books & Reading, Christianity, Literary theory